Position Matte 2
  • Jonathan ReyesJonathan Reyes
    This looks great...are there any plans to make it compatible with AE 2018? Currently the layer goes completely transparent when the effect is applied. Thanks
  • Matt TillmanMatt Tillman
    It is already compatible with 2018 :)

    The default position for the matte to appear is world zero, so in all likelihood you need to colour pick the point on your position pass that you want the matte.
    The easiest way to do this is to disable position matte, colour pick the position (using the "pick point" parameter), the reenable position matte.

    Also note that the plugin is 32 bit only (position mattes simply won't work with anything less).
    I'd recommend watching the tutorial video, as it covers the basic setup and the various parameters.
  • vane lovane lo
    i login to the same account but i  purchased it from and the discounted upgrade price not be automatically shown. 
  • Matt TillmanMatt Tillman
    I'm not sure what the upgrade pricing rules are.
    Try opening a support ticket
  • Richard BorgRichard Borg
    Hey Matt, 

    I'm interested in purchasing your script... so, quick question. In the animated GIF example for PM2 it suggests that you can map video textures, layers and shape layers to a 3d pass. I'm wondering if this is something which can be applied to e3d build globally? Or if you would entertain the prospect of creating a custom layer tab in addition to the preset tabs you have available in the plugin to potentially replicate the camera mapping technique used here [06secs] :
  • Matt TillmanMatt Tillman
    Hey Richard,

    Camera/Perspective mapping is certainly something I'd like to add in the future, however it's a matter of finding the time.

    In the mean time, a possible approach would be ft_uvpass with a perspective mapped uv pass.
    This wouldn't help you if you're trying to map to Element 3D though.
  • Paweł WeremiukPaweł Weremiuk
    Hi Matt
    This plugin looks so nice. BUT
    Coud You provide two image export options instruction from few 3d software? Like with options to choose. 
    I googled something, but still struggled for an hour with exporting "something allike" pass from 3ds max. picking position from my pass doesn't work yet (I'm getting wrong coordinated for an object and its background.
    You sample is usefull, but if I can't test my scene scenario I can't imagine it will work for me.

    It should be public info, not just answer in comments.

    something like that from max, maya, blender would be grat:

    (those export setting are stil wrong for me)

  • Matt TillmanMatt Tillman
    Hi Pawel,
    The difficulty there is that exporting a position pass isn't just app dependant, it's also renderer dependant. So there are many different methods to rendering them, and it is very much dependant on your particular setup.

    Looking at your render settings everything seems correct except for "Coord System". That should be set to "World" not "Object". You should still be able to composite using "Object", but it will likely give different results to what you intend.

    The only things you really need to worry about in the options are:
    - World Space (as mentioned above)
    - 32bpc/floating point
    - exr filetype (or any format that supports floating point)
  • Paweł WeremiukPaweł Weremiuk
    I'm using vray and world  coord system looks totaly 1 color flat, "object"  look alike your sample (4 colors) 
    it works in a way, but i'm not sure if it's not malfunctioning. I' ll do some more test. Thanks.
  • Matt TillmanMatt Tillman
    It's possible that the "flat" looking render is still correct. It depends on where in your scene you are rendering.

    Any position above 1 or below 0 in any axis will "look" like a solid colour, but if you inspect the actual pixel values you should see the information is actually there.

    The position pass is literally mapping xyz world position to rbg. So unless your entire scene takes place around the origin (0,0,0) then you won't see distinct colours.
  • Geoff BolenGeoff Bolen
    This looks like it could be helpful for pulling depth mattes with a world position pass rather than a camera dependent depth pass. Is there a written manual for this, besides the video tutorial?
  • Matt TillmanMatt Tillman
    Geoff Bolen said:
    This looks like it could be helpful for pulling depth mattes with a world position pass rather than a camera dependent depth pass. Is there a written manual for this, besides the video tutorial?
    Unfortunately no written documentation is available, just the video tutorial.
    Usage is fairly straightforward once you're in a 32-bit linear workspace (the setup for which is covered in the video).

    If you have any questions or troubles I'd be happy to help though.

  • Michael GarskeMichael Garske
    Is it possible to use this plug-in to get a conversion of the RGB values to XYZ values inside of After Effects? I'm looking for a means by which to find tracking points using the EXR position pass. The end goal is to apply those coordinates to a variety of 2.5D plug-ins origin points. E.g. stardust emitter origin point, plexus object, etc...
  • Matt TillmanMatt Tillman
    The short answer is no unfortunately.
    I was just talking to Lloyd about your query.

    The best approach for this would be to export your camera from 3d along with nulls for where you want tracking points.

    Alternatively, if you are in 32bpc you can read the info panel to see the rgb values of your PPass and manually enter those into the position parameter of a null. You'll still need the 3d camera in your scene to make sense of the results though. And you'll likely need to flip/negate the y axis (depending on the 3d software used to render the PPass)
  • Todd DraegerTodd Draeger
    Is this compatible with CC2020?
  • Matt TillmanMatt Tillman
    Todd Draeger said:
    Is this compatible with CC2020?
    Yes is certainly is :)
  • ryan smithryan smith
    I purchased this plugin and placed it into the plugin folder for ae, but when i try to use it it gives me an error that says "After Effects error: Couldn't find main entry point for PositionMatte.aex  (48::72)"
    what do I need to do?
  • Matt TillmanMatt Tillman
    ryan smith said:
    I purchased this plugin and placed it into the plugin folder for ae, but when i try to use it it gives me an error that says "After Effects error: Couldn't find main entry point for PositionMatte.aex  (48::72)"
    what do I need to do?
    If you open a support ticket we can go over the details and see if we can get to the bottom of it.
  • Brian MacDonaldBrian MacDonald
    ryan smith said:
    I purchased this plugin and placed it into the plugin folder for ae, but when i try to use it it gives me an error that says "After Effects error: Couldn't find main entry point for PositionMatte.aex  (48::72)"
    what do I need to do?
    I am having this same issue, please inform us as to what to do.
  • Matt TillmanMatt Tillman
    Brian MacDonald said:
    ryan smith said:
    I purchased this plugin and placed it into the plugin folder for ae, but when i try to use it it gives me an error that says "After Effects error: Couldn't find main entry point for PositionMatte.aex  (48::72)"
    what do I need to do?
    I am having this same issue, please inform us as to what to do.
    Hey Brian,

    I just responded to your bug report but I'm responding here for clarity on the issue for others.

    There are a couple of users who have reported this issue with v2.2. I've been unable to replicate the issue in order to troubleshoot it however I'm still looking into it.

    Rolling back to v2.1.1 seems to work fine, so if I can't find a solution I will either roll back the latest version on aescripts or include both v2.1.1 and v2.2 in the download.

  • Matt TillmanMatt Tillman
    Brian MacDonald said:
    ryan smith said:
    I purchased this plugin and placed it into the plugin folder for ae, but when i try to use it it gives me an error that says "After Effects error: Couldn't find main entry point for PositionMatte.aex  (48::72)"
    what do I need to do?
    I am having this same issue, please inform us as to what to do.
    Just a quick update on this for anyone that might be interested. 
    The issue was to do with a bad dll dependency due to an incorrect compile.

    v2.2.1 is up now and should be working correctly.
    Sorry to anyone this affected. 
  • Daniel OssioDaniel Ossio
    Hey Matt!
    I want to add a Trapcode Particular Particle Stroke to a 3D tunnel rendered in C4D with Octane. I can get a Position Pass in Octane, no problem. But can I obscure the Particle Stroke when the tunnel is bending? I basically would need a greyscale image that descibes the tunnel in 3d so I can use that as the z Buffer in Particular.
    I guess it's a common problem with Particular on a 3d rendering.
    Or is there a demo where I can test this?
    Kind regards!
    Daniel
  • Matt TillmanMatt Tillman
    Daniel Ossio said:
    Hey Matt!
    I want to add a Trapcode Particular Particle Stroke to a 3D tunnel rendered in C4D with Octane. I can get a Position Pass in Octane, no problem. But can I obscure the Particle Stroke when the tunnel is bending? I basically would need a greyscale image that descibes the tunnel in 3d so I can use that as the z Buffer in Particular.
    I guess it's a common problem with Particular on a 3d rendering.
    Or is there a demo where I can test this?
    Kind regards!
    Daniel
    If what you need is a depth buffer then it sounds like you'd be better off just using a depth pass rather than a position pass.
  • David CurtisDavid Curtis
    Hi Matt,

    Love the script! I have a question - is it possible to apply this plugin to an unwrapped UV? I have applied a world position texture to a model in 3D and rendered that to texture. I now have my unwrapped texture with world positions in AE but I can't seem to get it to work as easily if it was just a straight render of the scene (I have this working correctly, so I know my settings etc are correct). Am I expecting too much here, or is this feasible? I was thinking that as long as they RGB data is correct, it should still work?

    FYI I am looking at using this workflow for a projection mapping project where I need to transition between textures projected onto the surfaces of a room. I can do this directly to the unwrapped UV maps, but I thought your plugin would give me much more control and it wouldn't matter how the UV is laid out - the wipes etc would follow the geometry of the room.

    Thanks,

    David
  • Matt TillmanMatt Tillman
    David Curtis said:
    Hi Matt,

    Love the script! I have a question - is it possible to apply this plugin to an unwrapped UV? I have applied a world position texture to a model in 3D and rendered that to texture. I now have my unwrapped texture with world positions in AE but I can't seem to get it to work as easily if it was just a straight render of the scene (I have this working correctly, so I know my settings etc are correct). Am I expecting too much here, or is this feasible? I was thinking that as long as they RGB data is correct, it should still work?

    FYI I am looking at using this workflow for a projection mapping project where I need to transition between textures projected onto the surfaces of a room. I can do this directly to the unwrapped UV maps, but I thought your plugin would give me much more control and it wouldn't matter how the UV is laid out - the wipes etc would follow the geometry of the room.

    Thanks,

    David
    That should be possible, though it would be difficult to preview without reapplying comp output back to the geo as a texture (either in 3d or using something like ft-uv).

    The process I would use to do this would be:
    In 3D
    1. UV unwrap
    2. Bake world position to texture
    3. Render a uv pass from a useful preview position

    In AE
    1. Import World Position texture and UV pass render, make a comp from each
    2. Apply Position Matte to the Worl Position texture, do your animation/comping
    3. Bring World Position comp into UV render comp as a layer
    4. Apply ft-uv to UV render using the World Position Comp as a texture
    This will allow you to work on and output in UV space while previewing as you go in camera space.
  • Penelope NederlanderPenelope Nederlander
    Hiya! Any chance there's an Apple Silicon version in the works. It's been a real bummer not having this plugin the last half year.
  • Matt TillmanMatt Tillman
    Penelope Nederlander said:
    Hiya! Any chance there's an Apple Silicon version in the works. It's been a real bummer not having this plugin the last half year.
    Hey Penelope,

    Unfortunately not at this stage. Sorry about that!
    It's on my todo list for when I find some time (and possibly a cheap m1 dev machine), but that isn't likely to be any time soon.

  • Matt TillmanMatt Tillman
    Penelope Nederlander said:
    Hiya! Any chance there's an Apple Silicon version in the works. It's been a real bummer not having this plugin the last half year.
    Hey Penelope,
    Good news, I've managed to get an Apple Silicon version compiled over the holidays. It should be up on the aescripts site soon if it isn't already there. Version 2.3.
  • Penelope NederlanderPenelope Nederlander
    Am I correct in that Position Matte 2 is not compatible with AE 24? It's not showing up for me.

    M1 Max MBP
  • Matt TillmanMatt Tillman
    Penelope Nederlander said:
    Am I correct in that Position Matte 2 is not compatible with AE 24? It's not showing up for me.

    M1 Max MBP
    It works fine on 2024, I just hadn't updated the compatibility in the product description yet.
    Done now though :)
  • Christoph NiebelChristoph Niebel
    Penelope Nederlander said:
    Am I correct in that Position Matte 2 is not compatible with AE 24? It's not showing up for me.

    M1 Max MBP
    edit:solved.thx
  • Matt TillmanMatt Tillman
    Christoph Niebel said:
    Penelope Nederlander said:
    Am I correct in that Position Matte 2 is not compatible with AE 24? It's not showing up for me.

    M1 Max MBP
    Position Matte 2 not showing here in 2024 as well. 2023 is fine. Any solution? Thx!
    I can confirm that it's working fine on 2024.
    When you say it's not showing up do you mean in After Effects or in the aescripts manager app?
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